Дэвид Балдаччи - Walk the Wire

“But your mother never made it to Alice’s?” said Decker.

“No, and Alice died, too.”

“My God,” said Jamison.

Decker said, “If the neighbor died, how’d you know she had called your mom and that was the reason she was out in the blizzard?”

“My mom had texted me when Alice called. But with the time difference I didn’t see the text until the following morning. The first I knew about it was when they found her in the car after the blizzard had passed.”

“I’m very sorry,” said Jamison as Baker tenderly patted Dawson’s shoulder.

There was a moment of silence until Decker said awkwardly, “Um, your dad said you’ll be running the world before long.”

Jamison eyed Decker nervously, but before she could say anything, Baker chimed in. “Daddy’s perfect little girl.”

Decker noted that Dawson did not seem happy about this remark. “And we understand you had a brother?” he asked, drawing another stern look from Jamison.

She said, “I’m sure Caroline would rather talk about something else.”

Dawson coughed and took a drink of her water. “No, it’s okay. Yes, my brother, Hugh. We called him Junior. He... died.”

Decker said, “Joe Kelly told us he and your father didn’t see eye to eye on things. But he wouldn’t elaborate.”

Dawson gazed at Decker with an intensity that made him feel uncomfortable. “Good old Joe. He does like to keep things close to the vest.”

“Was that wrong of him?” asked Jamison.

“No, I suppose he was just trying to shield the family from undue attention. Joe’s always been loyal that way. The fact is, my brother was gay and my father had a big problem with that. He cut him out of the will, out of the business, out of his life. In the end, Junior couldn’t live with it, I guess. So he decided to end his life. He took a bunch of pills. I was the one who found him.” She dabbed at her eyes with her napkin.

“Damn, Caroline, I had no idea,” said Baker.

“No reason you should have known. I cared deeply for my brother. We were very close.”

“That... that must’ve made things difficult between you and your father,” said Decker.

“We didn’t speak for about a year after Junior died. But then we lost Mom, and... and we decided as the only family left we needed to seek a truce. So we did.”

“Do you think the truce will hold?” asked Decker.

She tapped her ring against the wood, as though for luck. “I don’t think I have a choice,” she replied.

Decker said, “Well, like Stan said, I think your father does see you as his perfect little girl.”

Dawson said firmly, “I don’t think there’s any such thing.”

When Decker and Jamison returned to the hotel, they found someone waiting for them.

Shane McClellan rose from a seat in the lobby and came over to them. He was dressed in jeans and an untucked gray shirt. His hair was slicked back and he had a few days’ worth of stubble on his face.

He gazed anxiously from one to the other. “Hal Parker?” he began.

“What about him?” said Decker.

“Heard somebody took him and left a gal dead in his shed.”

“What’s it to you?” asked Decker.

“Hal was one of my best buddies. We would go hunting all the time.”

“We actually saw a picture of you with him at his house on one of those hunting trips,” said Jamison.

“Do you know what happened to him?”

Decker said, “We’re working on it. Mind if we ask you some questions now that we know you two were friends?”

“Sure, whatever I can do to help.”

Decker led them over to a seating area next to the lobby. When they were settled in he said, “When was the last time you saw him?”

“Two days after he found that woman’s body. I went out to his place to pick up some stuff and he told me about it. It shook him up bad.”

“Did he tell you about the wolf he was tracking?”

“Yeah. He was hunting it when he found the lady.”

“Did Parker know a woman named Pamela Ames?”

Shane’s brow furrowed. “No, not that I know of. Is she the gal they found dead there?”

“She was. Now, what we found might point to Ames having been there for paid sex. Knowing Parker, do you think that’s plausible?”

“Hal? A hooker? No way. Why the hell would you even think that?”

“We found some evidence that suggests it might have been the case,” said Decker vaguely.

Shane folded his arms over his chest and looked at them stubbornly. “Well, I’ll never believe that. Hal liked to hunt and fish and drink his beer. And that was about it.”

“When you saw Hal, was he worried about anything?”

“Not that he mentioned. He was upset about the lady and all, but that was it. We were planning on doing some hunting soon. He was excited about that.”

“I’m surprised you have time considering all the things you’re doing with your father,” interjected Jamison. “He seems to keep you pretty busy.”

“He’d keep me busy every minute of the day if I let him, but I got a secret weapon.”

“What’s that?” asked Jamison.

“I don’t give a shit about what he really cares about, which is making money from pulling oil out of the dirt.”

“You have a farm?” said Decker. “Near the Air Force station?”

“That’s right.”

“You know the Brothers?”

“Yeah, good folks.”

“You go out there at all?”

“Sure. They do metal fabrication. We use some of what they make in our fracking operations. Plus they have a lot of trucks, and we pay them to haul stuff for us.”

“Did you know Irene Cramer?”

“No, I didn’t.”

Jamison said, “Are you and Caroline friends?”

“We grew up together, me, her, and Joe Kelly. Went to high school together. We were sort of inseparable back then.”

“Right, Kelly told us some of that.”

“Joe and I were on the football team. He was the starting QB and I was his best receiver.” A grin slowly spread over Shane’s features. “I caught forty-five touchdown passes from him over two seasons and we won the state title both years. And not to sound boastful or anything, but we were really popular in high school. Best times of my life. Got up every day with a smile.”

“And now?” said Jamison.

“Now we don’t see each other much. Caroline’s busy with running all her dad’s stuff. And Joe being a cop, he doesn’t keep regular hours.” He added wistfully, “Sort of miss those days. Long gone now.”

“But you like Caroline?” said Jamison.

He looked down. “Hell, everybody likes Caroline. Used to have these fantasies that we got hitched and had a bunch of kids.” He paused. “She and Joe even dated in high school. Thought for a while that they were going to get married.” He grinned weakly. “Only thing I ever hated about the guy. Caroline seemed to like him more than me.” He paused. “Me and Joe used to be best friends, together all the time.”

“What happened?” asked Jamison.

“Life... life happened,” said Shane sadly. “We’re still buds. Just not like before. Nothing’s like it was before,” he added wistfully.

“That tends to be the case with everybody,” opined Decker.

“We just came from dinner with Caroline,” said Jamison.

“Is that right? At her newfangled place?”

“Yes, Maddie’s, named after her mom.”

“Damn shame what happened to her.”

“Yes, it was a real tragedy,” noted Jamison.

“So Joe became a cop, Caroline went to college, and you joined the Army,” said Decker.

“That’s right.”

“How long were you in?”

“Long enough to do and see things I’ll remember till the day I die,” Shane said sharply. “Don’t get me wrong. I was proud to do my duty, but I was glad to put it behind me. I had buddies who died or lost limbs. After that, I came back here.”